Marines study sci-fi to plan for future battlefield needs: The Marine Corps is turning to science fiction and short stories to help forecast future operating concepts in an increasingly complex world.
A Science Fiction Futures Workshop held at the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory resulted in three realistic short stories based on the memo "Marine Corps Security Environment Forecast: Futures 2030-2045" (MCSEF), known as the "Science Fiction Futures."
The project, put on by the Corps' Futures Directorate, which provides assessments of plausible future security environments, was a collaboration of science fiction writers and service members to dream up short stories based on future environments described in the 2015 MCSEF.
In every concept the Marine Corps writes, each should begin with a futuristic short story, according to Brig. Gen. Julian Alford, commanding general of the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory.
“It’s the hook … it’s just like any great leader is usually a good storyteller, and that’s what this is,” he said of these short stories.
Speaking at the Atlantic Council on Jan. 11, Alford, who also serves as the director of the Futures Directorate, added: “If we’re thinking and writing about the future, we’re more likely to get it close.”
